Outcast
by Cricketsong
Summary: A young apprentice is taught by her mentor that killing is the answer to everything. But after her brother dies from a brutal ShadowClan attack, she's not sure that killing is the answer to anything but grief and payback.


**Outcast**

Prologue 

Long yellow and green grass wavered in the brisk winds, sweeping across the open moors of WindClan. A beautiful pink and yellowy orange sunset promised warm, sunny weather for the following day. Owlpaw could already feel the warm breeze ruffling her light gray fur as she padded along the purple heather and bracken that lie among the WindClan moors! The sweet scents of prey filled her nose as she scavenged, her eyes narrowed for a hare running across the moor.

Suddenly her eye caught sight of something behind her, whipping around she saw a dark gray/black shape weaving in and around some gorse bushes.

Curious, Owlpaw slid into a hunters crouch, keeping her belly close to the ground as she snuck up on the animal that obviously didn't want to be seen or found!

"An intruder, or spy!" She whispered under her breath, her paws creeping toward the gorse bush that she had last seen the dark shape. As she got closer she could smell the scent of cat and… "ShadowClan!" She thought, streaking forward, belly low and claws extended. _'Just wait until I shred some ShadowClan fur, they'll never set paw on WindClan territory again!'_

But as Owlpaw moved in to attack, she could scent only the smell of WindClan, and fresh but that was normal. Opening her mouth to drink in a more distinctive scent, she could smell Crowfeather! Curiously she padded forward, tracking his scent, which was leading to _ThunderClan!_

Soon she reached the dark gray tom, sitting at the edge of the lake with his tail wrapped around his paws neatly! He didn't look as though he was waiting for someone, and he was barely moving other then his tail waving slowly back and fourth! He was gazing at the sky, looking for something she couldn't see.

Suddenly she sensed another cat close by, Owlpaw pricked her ears to hear the gorse bush Crowfeather was near rustle. Whipping around she was face to face with Hazelpaw! "What are you doing here?" Owlpaw hissed, "You nearly scared me out of my fur!"

"I was bored and had nothing to do, so I decided to follow your scent trail! You were out of camp and I thought maybe you'd gone hunting, so I wanted to join you!" The light brown tom meowed, rasping his tongue over his forepaw. "Well I wasn't hunting for your information mouse-brain! I wanted out of the camp so I could be alone… away from _you!_" She rasped stalking past her brother. "Hey wait," Hazelpaw yowled, padding up beside her. "What were doing anyway? It's really not like you to want to be alone and away from camp!"

"Cats change you know. I wasn't going to stay cat friendly forever!" Owlpaw scoffed, jumping over some bracken.

"I know, I know! But since when do you sneak out of camp to watch the sun go down?"

Owlpaw's neck fur bristled, she let out a furious hiss before hastily retorting, "I didn't sneak mouse-brain! I left without notice, that's all! And since _when _do you care what _I_ do?"

"When did I not care? You're my sister, and a sharp tongued sister too!" Hazelpaw meowed. "Anyways, Hazelpaw! Run along go do something, please!" Owlpaw rasped.

"Like what?"

"Go hunting, clean the elders ticks, fall in love, I don't know!" She growled hastily before pelting toward the WindClan camp. "I think I'll just go hunting!" Hazelpaw hollered after her!

Owlpaw's belly swelled with fury, but she didn't know if it was because Hazelpaw had scared her so much, because he'd interrupted her when she wanted to be alone or because she didn't get to see what Crowfeather was up too!

Whatever the reason was, it didn't matter anymore! All she wanted was to go back to camp and sleep! Sleep for a moon and never wake up until the next gathering. She hadn't realized how tired she was, but her paws ached and she barely had the energy to hold her tail up anymore, it was starting to droop, the tip of it was dragging in the sand!

**Chapter 1**

Owlpaw curled her tail up around to her nose, after lying in the comfortable moss for so long she knew she'd regret every moment of getting up. But if she wanted to become a warrior she had to prove herself to Pouncepelt, and most of all to Onestar! If she were to become a warrior, the first thing Onestar would want to know was that she was a loyal WindClan cat!

Owlpaw stretched her forelegs before slowly rising and parting her jaws in a massive yawn! Blinking the sleep from her eyes she emerged from the apprentices' den.

Dawn was just making its way, crawling up the indigo sky. You could still see the dim stars that filled Silverpelt! The WindClan camp was lit with starshine, silver moonlight outlined the thin blades of long grass!

Owlpaw looked for the familiar, dappled pelt of her mentor, Pouncepelt. The massive tortoiseshell tomcat was always an early riser but she couldn't find him!

The only cats in the camp were Onestar, who was sitting at the mouth of his den; an abandoned badger set, while his deputy, Ashfoot was sharing tongues with her son, Crowfeather.

She decided to go check to see if Pouncepelt was still sleeping,

Poking her head in the warriors' den, she opened her mouth to drink in his scent. But whatever she could smell was stale! _'Where's he off to now?'_

Owlpaw padded through the gorse tunnel, her nose on the ground as she tried to detect Pouncepelts stale scent amongst the warm, sweet scents of prey!

It wasn't long before she caught his scent trail; it led to a small clearing with a narrow river, the ground was a bunch of silver pebbles! Some weeds had sprouted up between the small rocks and a few bracken plants shaped the round clearing. Several bunches of heather bordered the river, and the rare fern!

The water was a pretty greenish blue liquid; she could detect the smell of fish too! "This will be a great place to hunt! We could learn to fish and swim like RiverClan! We could become the strongest cats in the forest, swimming, fishing, hunting, fighting and running! We'd be the swiftest, fastest, quickest, meanest cats in the forest!" Owlpaw purred, lapping up some of the cool fresh river water.

Plunging into the water, she decided to start learning to swim now! Her paws couldn't reach the bottom and she wasn't sure if she liked that or not. The wetness seeped into her fur as she clung onto some reeds; her back claws scraped on a huge stone at the bottom.

It wasn't long before she decided she didn't like the fact she couldn't touch the bottom, although it was good for the fact of learning to swim but her legs weren't strong or long enough to tread strong water like in a river! _'Oh, StarClan help me!' _She plead, her paws scraping helplessly on the pebbles, but all they did was fall into the river!

"Help!" She yowled through the water that had already got into her mouth. She felt her paws lift off of the stone as she was carried down river! The elders had told her stories about how Bluestar had gotten caught in river once, and she died because she couldn't stay up long enough! _'Oh StarClan, I'm too young to go yet! Please help me, please StarClan!'_

She couldn't hold herself up any longer, her wet fur was dragging her down as she thrashed frantically in the water, clawing for any thing she could cling to! She went under water for about heartbeat but it seemed like a moon, gasping for a breath but all that filled her lungs was water. Before she could even get the water out she drug under water again, but this time it much longer than a heartbeat.

Her senses started going blank, everything was turning black, she could hear the thrashing water or see anything under water, and she couldn't feel anything!

Then she saw a cat, sitting in the shadows. She was at the moon pool; she had only been here once, about a moon ago for her apprentice journey! She could see a black and white cat, his back was turned to her and he sat under some gorse bushes. "Welcome, Owlpaw!" He meowed, turning to face her. "My name is Tallstar, I was leader of WindClan before Onestar!"

"Yes, I've heard many stories about you!" Owlpaw bowed her head to the leader. "But I'm not going to go to StarClan am I, not yet?"

She couldn't help but ask, as much as she wanted to stay patient she had to know if her time with her beloved Clan had come!

"Owlpaw, StarClan have done everything in their power to help you live! But you're so young you've taken in too much water. If you're to live you'll need a medicine cat right away," The toms' eyes were filled with sorrow. "You're to young, if it were a warrior it would be easier for him to live, they're stronger and can go longer without air."

"Oh please, Tallstar!" She pleaded. "Please give me another chance, please send me a miracle, I just can't die yet."

But before the tom replied she felt her neck fur being tugged on as she was drug out of the river. Her sensed weren't completely back but she could a blurry outline of Pouncepelt. Choking out mouthfuls of water she replied weakly, "Thank you, Pouncepelt!"

"Thanks StarClan you're alive, all I saw was a lump of wet gray fur at the top of the river, I figured you must of gone to share tongues with StarClan!" The dappled tom purred, rasping his tongue over her soaked fur. "I must get you to Barkface!"

She felt Pouncepelt slide beneath her as she was lifted into the air, her back paws and tail were dragging in the sand, and slowly sleep again reached her.

Owlpaw woke up in Barkfaces' den. It was a hollow made of bramble thickets and gorse roots. Her eyes widened as she looked at her bloody paw, it stung quite badly too!

"Barkface, Barkface what happened to my paw?" She yowled trying to stand up, but before she could the old medicine cat entered the den with a wad of horsetail in his mouth. "Oh good, you're awake!" He meowed, setting the herbs down and padding toward her. "You're claw, it's gone!" He meowed confused. "Gone? Will it grow back?" She rasped, swiping her tongue over the bloody socket. "Of course, it's just a matter of time! Don't worry I'll get you some cobwebs right away, and marigold so it doesn't get infected while healing!" The tom disappeared with the horsetail into where he stored all his herbs.

Reappearing within heartbeats with cobwebs wrapped around his paw and a wad of marigold in his mouth. "Don't worry, Owlpaw! You'll be fine, I'll have you good as new before the next gathering!" Barkface purred, pressing the cobwebs against her paw.

The brown tom started chewing the leaves and petals of the marigold into a poultice before applying it to her wound!

"Thank you so much, Barkface. You're a really great medicine cat, the Clan is lucky to have had you for so long!" She meowed, wincing as the marigold stung her paw. "Kestrelpaw will make an even better successor, he's got potential and a mind of his own!"

"Glad to hear it," Owlpaw meowed. "But when can I get out of here? I really should be getting back to my warrior duties!"

Barkface hesitated, looking up from her paw that had been wrapped in cobwebs. " Another sunhigh or more before I'll let you go! After that I want you to come see me everyday to make sure your claw is growing back right."

Owlpaw nodded before curling her tail up around to her nose and smelling the sweet scent of herbs as she listened to everything Barkface was doing. It wasn't long before Kestrelpaw returned; by the scent of him she could tell he had some kind of herb, maybe poppy seed in his mouth, along with catmint! She opened her eyes to breath in its delicious scent. Barkface entered the clearing, "Kestrelpaw, where'd you find catmint?"

The young apprentice set the catmint down before boasting with pride, "I found it over by the twoleg place, near the horseplace on RiverClans side!" He meowed before adding. "I didn't go into RiverClan territory though, one of the twolegs was growing catmint along with marigold, golden rod, feverfew and chervil! I didn't have time to see what else there was!"

"That's okay, we can check tomorrow! Right now I'd like for you to get Owlpaw some fresh-kill, then go and put the catmint in my den while I go collect some horsetail!" Barkface announced before brushing past the bramble that screened the medicine cats' den!

Moments later Kestrelpaw appeared with a rabbit in his jaws. "Here you are!" He purred, through clamped teeth before setting it down in front of her. "Thanks, Kestrelpaw!"

The apprentice flicked his tail in acknowledgement before picking up his catmint and disappearing into Barkface's den.

Owlpaw took several famished bites of the delicious hare, gulping them down quickly before swiping her tongue around her muzzle.

After swallowing the last few bites of rabbit she tucked her paws beneath her and decided to get some rest before the next morning.

Dawn came like prey, quickly and pleasantly, warm shafts of sunless slipped through the cracks of the bramble thickets into the medicine cat clearing, warming her pelt as she blinked the sleep from her eyes as stretched her front legs! Rising and shaking the moss from her fur she decided to find Barkface, hoping he'd have some good news for her!

'_Hopefully I can get out of here today, I haven't stretched my claws in days, or caught my own prey!'_

"Barkface?" She meowed, poking her head in his den to see the brown tom curled up in his nest. He pricked her ears as she entered his den, slowly opening his eyes. "Owlpaw?" He meowed, confused. "What are you doing up? You shouldn't be exercising your paw right now!"

"Sorry Barkface!" She replied a bit embarrassed. "It's just, all I do is sleep, and I'm not use to this well, kittypet like life." She confessed. "I promise to walk slowly and even limp if it comes down to it, I won't walk on it to much! Please can I go back to the apprentices' den?"

The old medicine cat rose from his nest, padding over to sniff her paw before nodding. "It's healing well, but tomorrow I won't you back here so I can check on it! With this kind of wound it's easy to get cracked pads." The tom purred.

Nodding she emerged into the WindClan camp, this time Pouncepelt was there, sharing a piece of fresh-kill with his former apprentice, Reedwhisker. She pelted toward him, then remembered about her paw and slowed down to almost a limp. "Pouncepelt!" She purred, her eyes shining with all the moonlight left in the dawn sky. "Thank you for saving my life!" She meowed shyly. "WindClan is lucky to still have you, you'll make a good warrior some day!" Reedwhisker meowed. "When can we start training again?" She couldn't help but ask.

"Not until Barkface says it's okay."

Disappointed clawed at her belly, "I'll go ask him right now!"

"Barkface, it won't be a moon before I can start my training again will it?" She asked, curling her tail around her paws neatly after sitting down in front of the brown tomcat. "Of course not, Owlpaw!" He flecked her shoulder with his short tail. "Just give your paw time to heal, wait for StarClan to catch up to you for _StarClans _sake!"

She couldn't suppress a purr; "I just don't want to be behind on my warrior skills while Willowpaw and Hazelpaw are ahead of me." She complained, sinking her claws into the soft earth. "I know, you'll be able to go back to your regular tasks by dawn tomorrow, I'll speak with Onestar about it. Would you like me to ask him if you could go on the dawn patrol? It would great exercise for you?" Barkface suggested before Kestrelpaw entered the clearing with goldenrod and feverfew in his mouth. "Those twolegs are going to be wondering where all there herbs are going!" The apprentice mumbled through clamped teeth. "Okay, Barkface I'd love to go on the dawn patrol!" She replied before entering the WindClan clearing again.

She headed toward the fresh-kill pile in the center of the camp; it was mostly rabbits with a few kestrels, one mouse and a vole with a stale scent of ThunderClan on it. She picked the plump mouse, carrying it over to where her sister, Willowpaw sat.

"The vole smells of ThunderClan!" She flicked her tail toward the fresh-kill pile. "Who caught it anyway?"

"I did," Willowpaw meowed through a mouthful of rabbit. "It ran across the border, some ThunderClan apprentice, Birchpaw I think was chasing it. I stopped him before he crossed the border and decided to catch it for the Clan, someone would have caught it anyway sooner or later!"

"Oh, so how's your training been going? She asked after gulping down some mouse. "Oh, great! Tornear taught me his signature move, he says I've got speed and that makes a great WindClan warrior, or any type of warrior!" Willowpaw purred, her eyes gleaming. "Oh. I wish I could be training now, but my mouse brained paw is stopping me!"

"It's okay you don't have to explain, I heard." Willowpaw swiped her tongue over her head in soft, soothing strokes!

"Owlpaw!" The gray she-cat turned to see her naïve brother, Hazelpaw pelting toward her with a kestrel in his jaws. "How's your paw, O' great sister!"


End file.
